Konzepte des naturnahen nachhaltigen Tourismus im alpinen Raum und ihre Umsetzung am Beispiel des Osttiroler Villgratentals

Diese Arbeit behandelt das Konzept der nachhaltigen Entwicklung und wie es im Tourismus, und dabei im speziellen im Tourismus des Alpenraums angewandt wird. Einführend werden die Grundlagen der nachhaltigen Entwicklung mit Fokus auf den UN Bericht „Our Common Future“ und die UN Conference on Environment and Development 1992 (Rio-Konferenz) beschrieben. Da das Konzept der nachhaltigen Entwicklung vielfach und interdisziplinär diskutiert und interpretiert wurde, werden im Weiteren die verschiedenen Interpretationen der Nachhaltigkeit behandelt. Auch wichtige Kritikpunkte am Nachhaltigkeitskonzept werden angesprochen, konkret die Punkte „Keine klare Definition“, „Falscher Gebrauch des Begriffs“, „Ungleiche Konzentration von ökologischem und ökonomischem Fokus“, „Schwierigkeit zu messen oder zu vergleichen“, „ Nachhaltigkeit als Bekämpfung von Symptomen“. Tourismus ist als ein System verschiedener Umwelten und Teilprozesse zu verstehen. Im Laufe seiner Entwicklung hat sich auch Tourismus das Konzept der Nachhaltigkeit angeeignet. In verschiedenen Traditionen der Tourismusausübung, beschrieben von JAFARI als Plattformen (Advocacy, Cautionary, Adaptancy und Knowledge-based Platforms) und bei CLARKE modifiziert zu dem Verhältnis von Massentourismus zu nachhaltigem Tourismus zwischen Gegensatz und Konvergenz. Das bedeutet, dass in der gegenwärtigen Tourismusauffassung nachhaltige Strukturen sowohl in kleinstrukturiertem als auch in größer dimensionierten Tourismusformen anwendbar sind. Um die Entwicklung dieser Philosophie des nachhaltigen Tourismus nachvollziehen zu können, werden die Vorläufer des nachhaltigen Tourismus berücksichtigt, und dabei vor allem der sanfte Tourismus, der als Gegenkonzept zum Massentourismus konzipiert wurde. Sanfter Tourismus soll vor allem für lokale Bevölkerung und Gemeinschaften Vorteile schaffen. Nachhaltiger Tourismus fordert ein qualitatives und gleichmäßiges Wachstum zwischen den miteinander verbundenen Faktoren wirtschaftlicher Wohlstand, subjektives Wohlbefinden, optimale Befriedigung der Gästebedürfnisse sowie eine intakten Natur und Kultur. Ziel ist eine ausgeglichene Tourismusentwicklung, bei dem die positiven Interaktionen zwischen diesen Faktoren und ihren Zielen ausgebaut und die negativen verringert werden. Gemäß der Einteilung der Nachhaltigkeitsintensität (sehr schwache bis sehr starke Nachhaltigkeitsposition) kann Tourismus klassifiziert werden. Nachhaltiger Tourismus manifestiert sich in verschiedenen Ausprägungen, innerhalb des Naturtourismus zum Beispiel im Ökotourismus oder des Wildlife-Tourismus. Bei der Umsetzung dieser Tourismusarten ist aber nicht immer klar abzugrenzen, ob die Kriterien der Nachhaltigkeit dabei eingehalten werden oder ob der Bezug zur Nachhaltigkeit nur zu Marketingzwecken genutzt wird. Unter Berücksichtigung der Wirkung des nachhaltigen Tourismus auf die regionale Entwicklung und den vorangehenden Ausführungen wird der Versuch angestellt, nachhaltigen naturnahen Tourismus zu definieren und ihn anhand von Strategien und Maßnahmen im Alpenraum und im Untersuchungsraum, dem Osttiroler Villgratental, festzumachen. Mittels einer schriftlichen Umfrage bei den Tourismustreibenden im Villgratental werden folgende Fragen untersucht: Welches Nachhaltigkeitsverständnis haben die Befragten?/ Wirkt sich die Betriebsgröße auf die Umsetzung einer nachhaltigen Betriebsführung aus?/Wie wird Nachhaltigkeit im Tourismus in den Villgrater Tourismusbetrieben kommuniziert?/ Wie schätzen die Villgrater Tourismusbetriebe die Zukunft ihres Betriebs bezüglich Weiterbestehen und Ausbau In Qualität und Größe ein?/ Wie bewerten die Villgrater Tourismustreibenden den Tourismus im Villgratental?This paper regards the concept of sustainable development and how it is applied in tourism, and alpine tourism in particular. To introduce the matter the basis of sustainable development the UN report “Our Common Future) and the UN Conference on Environment and Development 1992 (Rio-Conference) are described. The concept of sustainable development is discussed in multiple ways and scientific disciplines, so in following part concerns the different interpretations of sustainability. There are also mentioned fundamental points of critique, for example “no clear definition”, “wrong usage of the term”, “uneven concentration of ecological and economic focus”, “difficulties to measure and compare”. Tourism is to be understood as a system of various environments and subprocesses. In its development tourism has adapted to the concept of sustainable development. There are different traditions in tourism research, which JAFARI described as platforms (Advocacy, Cautionary, Adaptancy and Knowledge-based Platforms) and which CLARKE modified in the relationship of mass tourism and sustainable tourism in the spectrum of opposites to convergence. This means that in current tourism understanding sustainable structures can be adapted to small-scale tourism as well as to large-scale tourism. To comprehend this philosophy of sustainable tourism the predecessors of sustainable tourism are described, focusing on “soft tourism”, which was designed as an alternative to mass tourism. Soft tourism should bring advantages to local populations and communities. Sustainable tourism claims a qualitative and constant growth of the connected factors like economic wealth, subjective well-being, meeting the needs of guests as well as intact nature and culture. Its goal is a balanced development of tourism that increases positive interactions between those factors and reduces the negative ones. According to the intensity of sustainability, tourism can be classified in categories with a “very weak” sustainability position to a “very strong” sustainability position. Sustainable tourism manifests in various forms, for example as ecotourism or wildlife-tourism within the nature tourism context. But the implementations of these forms doesn’t always make transparent, if the criteria of sustainability are met or if the term is just used for marketing purposes. Considering the impact of sustainable tourism to regional development and the explanations above, it is attempted to define sustainable nature-based tourism and to explain it in the context of measures and strategies in the alpine region and the investigation area of the Villgratental in Eastern Tyrol. Following questions were investigated by a survey of tourism executives in the Villgratental: What understanding of sustainability do the respondents have?/ Does the structure of the business influence the implementation of sustainable measures?/ How is sustainability in tourism communicated by tourism operators in the Villgratental?/ How are the tourism operators in the Villgratental review their business in future considering expansions in quality and existence?/ How do the tourism operators evaluate tourism in the Villgratental

Individual contribution of metabotropic glutamate receptor (mGlu) 2 and 3 to c-Fos expression pattern evoked by mGlu2/3 antagonism

Objectives and materials and methods: The aims of the present study were (1) to determine the neuronal activation pattern elicited by the group II mGlu antagonist LY341495 and (2) to evaluate the contribution of each group II mGlu subtype by using wild-type (WT) and knockout (KO) mice lacking either mGlu2 or mGlu3. c-Fos expression was used as a marker of neuronal activation. Results and discussion: In WT mice, LY341495 induced widespread c-Fos expression in 68 out of 92 brain areas, including limbic areas such as the amygdala, septum, prefrontal cortex, and hippocampus. LY341495-induced c-Fos response was markedly decreased in the medial part of the central amygdala (CeM) and lateral septum (LS) in mGlu3-KO mice, as well as in the lateral parabrachial nucleus (LPB) in both KO strains. In the majority of investigated areas, LY341495-induced c-Fos expression was similar in KO and WT mice. Analysis of the cellular and subcellular distribution of mGlu2 and mGlu3 revealed a prevailing presence of mGlu3-immunoreactivity in the CeM in glial processes and in postsynapstic neuronal elements, whereas only rare presynaptic axon terminals were found immunoreactive for mGlu2. Conclusion: In conclusion, our data indicate that group II mGlu blockade increases neuronal activation in a variety of brain areas, including many stress- and anxiety-related areas. The activation of two key brain areas, the CeM and LS, is mediated via mGlu3, while activation in the LPB involves both subtypes. Moreover, in the majority of investigated areas, LY341495-mediated neuronal activation appears to require a complex cross talk between group II mGlu subtypes or the action of LY341495 on additional receptors. © 2008 The Author(s)

SchussenAktivplus: reduction of micropollutants and of potentially pathogenic bacteria for further water quality improvement of the river Schussen, a tributary of Lake Constance, Germany

The project focuses on the efficiency of combined technologies to reduce the release of micropollutants and bacteria into surface waters via sewage treatment plants of different size and via stormwater overflow basins of different types. As a model river in a highly populated catchment area, the river Schussen and, as a control, the river Argen, two tributaries of Lake Constance, Southern Germany, are under investigation in this project. The efficiency of the different cleaning technologies is monitored by a wide range of exposure and effect analyses including chemical and microbiological techniques as well as effect studies ranging from molecules to communities

Cystic Fibrosis: A New Target for 4-Imidazo[2,1-b]thiazole-1,4-dihydropyridines

The pharmacology of the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) Cl(-) channel has attracted significant interest in recent years with the aim to search for rational new therapies for diseases caused by CFTR malfunction. Mutations that abolish the function of CFTR cause the life-threatening genetic disease cystic fibrosis (CF). The most common cause of CF is the deletion of phenylalanine 508 (ΔF508) in the CFTR chloride channel. Felodipine, nifedipine, and other antihypertensive 1,4-dihydropyridines (1,4-DHPs) that block L-type Ca(2+) channels are also effective potentiators of CFTR gating, able to correct the defective activity of ΔF508 and other CFTR mutants ( Mol. Pharmacol. 2005 , 68 , 1736 ). For this purpose, we evaluated the ability of the previously and newly synthesized 4-imidazo[2,1-b]thiazoles-1,4-dihydropyridines without vascular activity and inotropic and/or chronotropic cardiac effects ( J. Med. Chem. 2008 , 51 , 1592 ) to enhance the activity of ΔF508-CFTR. Our studies indicate compounds 17, 18, 20, 21, 38, and 39 as 1,4-DHPs with an interesting profile of activity

A global database of lake surface temperatures collected by in situ and satellite methods from 1985–2009

Peer reviewe

A global database of lake surface temperatures collected by in situ and satellite methods from 1985–2009

Global environmental change has influenced lake surface temperatures, a key driver of ecosystem structure and function. Recent studies have suggested significant warming of water temperatures in individual lakes across many different regions around the world. However, the spatial and temporal coherence associated with the magnitude of these trends remains unclear. Thus, a global data set of water temperature is required to understand and synthesize global, long-term trends in surface water temperatures of inland bodies of water. We assembled a database of summer lake surface temperatures for 291 lakes collected in situ and/or by satellites for the period 1985–2009. In addition, corresponding climatic drivers (air temperatures, solar radiation, and cloud cover) and geomorphometric characteristics (latitude, longitude, elevation, lake surface area, maximum depth, mean depth, and volume) that influence lake surface temperatures were compiled for each lake. This unique dataset offers an invaluable baseline perspective on global-scale lake thermal conditions as environmental change continues